Chapter 6: Jesus and the Sabbath.

Let us continue with the events that happened with Jesus' disciples in that
grain field on a Sabbath. We have seen already discovered Jesus' response to the
Pharisees accusing his disciples of breaking the Sabbath law. We have seen that
the moral law is above the ceremonial law, but somehow the Sabbath law can be
broken in favour of the ceremonial law.

The first mention of Jesus and the Sabbath in the gospel of Matthew is this very
episode, found in Matt 12:1-8. It is interesting to note that Jesus and His
disciples, on the Sabbath Day, were gathering food. This is exactly what the
Israelites were forbidden to do 2000 years earlier (Exodus 16)! It is obvious to
all that Jesus is trying to teach us something here. Not only is He breaking the
rule of not gathering food on Sabbath, He is pointing out that the Sabbath can
be broken in favour of the ceremonial law!

By what authority can He do this? Matt 12:6: "I tell you that one greater than
the temple is here." Jesus' authority is greater than the temple and it's
ceremonial law. Jesus is the Son of God, soon to be giving His life in ransom to
bring salvation to a fallen humanity. Jesus has authority that humans do not
have! He is the Creator: John 1:10-11 "He was in the world, and though the world
was made through him, the world did not recognize him." Jesus knows what He is
talking about!

Let's read Jesus' next response: Matt 12:8 "For the Son of Man is Lord of the
Sabbath." What does this mean? Does this mean the Sabbath law is never to be
broken? Well, we've just seen that Jesus and His disciples were breaking the
Sabbath law. We also discovered that Israelites were permitted to break that law
in favour of ceremonial laws.

To understand the concept of Jesus being the Lord of the Sabbath, I would like
to use an illustration. Let's pretend that I just bought a house. Who is the
Lord (in other words the Master) of that house? Is it the one that just moved
out of it? No. Is it the one who lives next door? No. The Master of that house
is me. I bought the house, I paid for it. I have the deed in my name. It is my
house. And being lord of my house, what do I have the authority to do? Can I
change the colours of my walls? Absolutely! Can I make a hole in my ceiling? No
one will be able to stop me. Can I enlarge my bedroom? Why not. I have authority
over my house, because it is legally mine. No one can come into my house and
start painting the walls a different color unless I give him/her permission to
do so. Being the Lord or Master of my house, I have full authority over my
house. I can do with it as I please.

Jesus says that He is the Lord (Master) of the Sabbath. What does that mean? It
means that He is the one who has authority over the Sabbath! He had the deed
over the Sabbath. It is His. He is the Creator, He rested on the seventh day. He
can do as He wishes with the Sabbath. So is the accusation of the Pharisees that
Jesus and His disciples are breaking the Sabbath law legitimate? Not at all.
Sure, He was breaking the Sabbath laws, but He had authority to do so. He is the
Master, the Lord of the Sabbath, and how can we, as created beings, complain
about what He, the Creator, is doing with something that is legitimately His?

It is interesting to note that this same story is mentioned not only once in the
gospels, but three times! See Mark 2:23-28 and Luke 6:1-5. When God gives a
message once, we need to listen to what He tells us. When God gives us a message
twice it is of upmost importance. When He gives it three times, we better pay
close attention to it!

Luke 4:16 "He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and
on the Sabbath
dayhe went into the synagogue, as was his custom."

What was Jesus' purpose for doing so? The gospels reveal clearly His purpose:
Luke 4:31 "Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and
on the Sabbath
began to teach the people."

and

Luke 4:42-44 "At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were
looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from
leaving them. But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to
the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." And
he kept on preaching
in the synagogues of Judea."

Jesus' purpose in going to the synagogue on Sabbath was clear and simple: it
gave Him opportunity to preach "the good news of the kingdom of God". There was
no better place for doing so. All Jews attended the synagogue on Sabbath. Jesus
had a captive audience all in one place! There was no better place than a
synagogue filled on Sabbath to preach the gospel message! Sure, a market place
would have a lot of people. But how can you have the undivided attention of a
whole town when most of these people were busy doing their business? Only in the
synagogues, on the Sabbath day, would the entire town pay close attention to
what was being said.

The apostle Paul followed Jesus' example as well and did the same kind of
preaching in synagogues on Sabbath. Why? Because it was a God-given way to
preach the gospel to a whole town, at a time when they would be paying close
attention to what was said! Acts 18:4 "Every Sabbath he (Paul) reasoned in the
synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks."

Jesus, His disciples and the apostle Paul were using the same technique of
preaching the gospel.

Let us look a bit closer to one of Jesus' encounters on Sabbath in a
synagogue. Here we find Jesus in the town of Nazareth, where as was His custom,
He went to the synagogue on Sabbath. Let us read together what happened: Luke
4:16-21 "He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath
day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The
scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place
where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed
me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim freedom for the
prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it
back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were
fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is
fulfilled in your hearing.""

Wow! Jesus was using the Scriptures to summarize His ministry on earth. He was
quoting Isa 61:1-2, which speaks of the jubilee in reference to the upcoming
Messiah!

Now what was the jubilee? Let us go to Lev 25:8-17 which explains in details
what the Jubilee consists off: "'Count off seven sabbaths of years--seven times
seven years--so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of
forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of
the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your
land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to
all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return
to his family property and each to his own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a
jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the
untended vines. 1For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is
taken directly from the fields. 'In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return
to his own property. 'If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from
him, do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy from your countryman on
the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on
the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. When the years are
many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are todecrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of
crops."

In other words, jubilee is the Sabbath of Sabbaths. It is celebrated "seven
sabbaths of years--seven times seven years" and it announces freedom. Slaves are
free to leave their master and go back to their family. Land that was sold goes
back to the original owner. It was a time of great rejoicing!

Now in Luke 4:21 Jesus announces "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your
hearing." What was He meaning with this? Jesus proclaims not only to be the
Messiah, but also calls Himself the jubilee! Jesus is the ultimate Sabbath
personified. He is the ultimate Sabbath in person!

Was Jesus able to back up His claim? Surely: Matt 11:5-6
"The blind receive
sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead
are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor." In other words He is our
jubilee, the ultimate Sabbath in person.

No wonder Jesus could proclaim with confidence: Matt 11:28-30
"Come to me, all
you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest
for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." NIV

Jesus is our ultimate Sabbath! In Him we find rest! We can lay our burdens down
at His feet and not worry about how to solve our problems. He will guide us and
will give us not a once a week rest, but a continual rest! He is the Sabbath
personified!